June, 2016:  He graduated from Heritage High when his sister was finishing her Freshman year here. January, 2017: He left Brentwood CA to go to Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. August, 2017: He returns to Brentwood 2 weeks prior to what his little sister was expecting and surprised her at school, the look on their faces in that moment couldn’t express anymore love and joy.

 An Air Force aviator, with a rank of Airman 1, Jake Kolda has spent the last 6 months attending boot camp and tech school, both requirements to reach his next destination. But before he goes off, he decided to pay his way back to his hometown to pay a visit to his family and relax before his duties.

 “I decided it was time to take a break period between technical training and my first duty station,” said Jake.

 Kolda’s “break”, however, isn’t as glamorous as the word ‘vacation’ or ‘time off’ connotes. It was his choice to  come back one last time before he goes off to the German Air Force Base, where he will spend the next 3 or 4 year’s. Germany was his first choice on his list of choices where he wanted to go, and his mother Christine Kolda couldn’t be more proud of him.

 “It was my first choice on my dream list to go to Germany. I have no idea how I got it, but I did,” Jake explained.

 “It’s hard to put into words how proud we are of Jake. It is a very emotional feeling,” said Christine Kolda, mother of both Jake and Amelia.

 On August 9th, Jake flew in at around 11 A.M. at San Francisco Airport, and came to Heritage in uniform to surprise his sister at 3.His sister, Amelia Kolda (11), had no prior knowledge of the arrival of her older brother. When Amelia  spotted her brother, she run up with a wide smile on her face and hugged him tight. Afterwards, she expressed her surprise to see him, and playfully punched him, how else should you greet a big brother?

 “I was so surprised! I was not expecting it at all! It means so much that the people in my life went to so much trouble to surprise me. It was very sweet and I loved it so much. Sarah [Packer (11)] is my best friend other than Jake, I’m not at all surprised that she was in on it! She’s so sweet and great and I’m very lucky to have her as my friend. I have to give her props for her ability to keep this from me,” said Amelia.

 After Jake’s 2 week break in Brentwood with his family, he will fly to Germany to be stationed there for a while, so this will be the last time seeing his family until further notice. Fortunately, he has his time with them now, and Amelia and Christine couldn’t be happier with how far he has come.”

 “I’m very happy for him and excited for him. It [Germany] was his first choice so it’s awesome he got it. I’ll miss him of course but I might visit him so that’ll be great. I think it will be an awesome experience for him,” said Amelia.

 All in all, it’s an incredibly loving and rare moment for the Kolda’s to come together one last time before he goes off to his Dream List destination, and although upsetting, not many get this chance, and they are all so proud of him.

 Amelia will miss her brother dearly, and will cherish their moments together when he leaves. “Jake is my best friend and my brother. He protects me and looks out for me and respects me like a peer and shares moments with me and we have. I’ve missed him so much and will miss him when he goes. I’m very happy he’s home, even for a short period of time. I really do love him so much.”

   Christine concluded,  “It will be a little hard and sad that we won’t see Jake as often… As a parent it is bittersweet when your babies leave the nest. We knew he had plans to go to college at first, but we didn’t expect him to go this far,”